The next defining image of the left-handed precocious batting talent’s career came on a warm October afternoon in Navi Mumbai on Thursday. The now 22-year-old switched her batting position and smacked India’s best spinner Deepti Sharma over what was the conventional covers boundary region.

In a coming of age knock, Litchfield’s switch hits and reverse sweeps seemingly had India on the mat in the World Cup semi-final. So much so that by the time she was dismissed in the 28th over for 119 (93b, 17×4, 3×6), it took some time for the near-capacity home crowd at D Y Patil stadium to register and find their voice.

But cricket has a strange way of evening the odds. By the time the match ended, Litchfield’s 119 was just a footnote in India’s record chase and march into the final. It will be a lesson she learns and one that she will probably never forget.

Earlier, Litchfield’s fireworks allowed Australia to race to 180/2 in the must-win match. So dominant was the young left-hander that she had contributed 102 runs to her 155-run second wicket partnership with Ellyse Perry.

Only a ball before she played the audacious switch hit for six off Deepti, the left-hander had stroked the most delightful lofted off-drives to nearly the same region, straighter. It’s a template Litchfield followed all the way through her innings. Without watching the action, a glance at her wagon wheel – 15 of her 17 boundaries coming on the off-side, 13 of them between point and the straight boundaries – would give a misleading picture. One might be mistaken to believe it was a silken exhibition of cover driving like her WBBL teammate Smriti Mandhana, from whom she had soaked knowledge.

Instead, Mandhana was at the receiving end, watching a splash of Litchfield’s unconventional hits that negated the impact India’s spinners might have had in the first half of the innings. “I usually hit there because the fielders are not there,” she explained her simplicity of thought at the innings break about her reverse sweeps and switch hits.

On Thursday, with the pitch offering little turn, Litchfield went reverse at will. These were interspersed with a bouquet of boundary shots through covers, that had helped her make the first impression.

Litchfield was particularly severe against pacer Kranti Gaud (35 runs off 15) which is how she first stamped her authority on the match. She went on to target Deepti (25 runs off 13) in particular, pushing the home side further back. When Litchfield brought up her hundred with a lofted drive over mid-off against left-arm spinner Shree Charani, Perry was by her side. The legendary all-rounder had played her part in so many champagne moments. In a warm embrace, she couldn’t stop applauding Generation next, taking the baton forward in style.

The 2020 India-Australia T20 World Cup final was her favourite match as a cricket watcher but this semi-final may become the match that, in time, will push her to newer heights.